Looking Back to Look Forward

I was thinking as I sat down to write blogs that usually writing helps me clarify my thinking but with the work we do using technology – I don’t feel that need at all. Because the discussions are immediate, the problem solving collaborative, the teaching team so focused and communicative, it all seems superfluous to write it down. The people who are usng the exact same programs are right outside my door, and I am a people person. I’d still rather have that personal contact, talk it thorugh, be talked through a problem or a program. If there is no physical proximity or availablility then I don’t hesitate to be on line and write it through.

The purpose of these was to show technology growth, and I don’t think mine do to the degree technology is used to enhance learning. But despite this – I do learn something about technology every day, and teach something every day. Students love to use technology to support and enhance learning and I have t remind myself that10 years ago, how limited our access was and recall the one hour a week in the IT lab. Sometimes I just learn patience when the server is slow, sites have moved, programs crash and we find an alternate method, and other times I learn that it was not the best way to impact learning.

ISB has had many things that potentially could have impacted learning this year – most lately being the political instability with school cancelled. The class blog is such a part of our classwork that students largely carried on regardless.

To even get together to get the focus lesson started for this course did not happen as there are so many conflicts and schedule adaptions. That doesn’t mean things didn’t go on, just that I moved to a new focus and stopped thinking about it and so it all drifted on. I would have liked to do more reading – but could have done that on my own. The discussions about technology are constant in outr team. There is always a new site, program, adaptation to thing about incorporating into our curriculum. I have no doubt that the standards are embedded in our curriculum as we work to do so. I know that this means a far more vibrant learning for the students as the old days of a stagnant curriculum just cannot exist with all that lies within our grasp. And of course I want (okay need) to complete this course, the actual course completion is not what drives me. I like the journey.